The history of the development and content of the nativity scene in Malorossia in the XVIII-XIX c

The article considers the “nativity scene” as a socio-cultural phenomenon of the XVIII-XIX centuries. The way of its distribution in the Russian Empire from Italy through Austria and Poland is investigated. The greatest spread of the nativity scene during this period is noted in Little Russia. The formation of the nativity scene here was due to the general well-being of the region, which synthesized Polish, Great Russian in uence and its own ethnicity in its cultural development. The nativity scene in Little Russia quickly ows from the church to the popular environment, which leads to the formation of original plots that are very far from the Christian canon, as well as key characters, such as, for example, Zaporozhets. The spread of the nativity scene 31Культура: история и современностьin the XVIII century reaches Siberia: Tobolsk and Irkutsk, where the local speci cs of theatrical activity are formed, unfortunately - suppressed by the church. The “completion” of the nativity scene is also being investigated - the format is reduced, simpli ed and comes to splint pictures and drawings. In the XIX century, the extensive, two-century history of the nativity scene in Russia is coming to an end.